"Out oft Box" - Digital Vertical Engagement

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"Out oft Box" - Vertical Engagement

WHY IS IT  that many of those individuals who gain or aspire to a position of significance in a major organisation or charity actually ignore, or fail to recognise, the importance of VERTICAL ENGAGEMENT with their staff and volunteers ?.

I have worked within industry in the UK and abroad with various sized companies and of late with volunteer organisations in the UK – primarily the NHW ( recognised as probably one of the largest UK Charities with up to 10 million volunteers.)

Surely this cannot be the way to communicate today 

NHW Volunteers generally work tirelessly to achieve the aims of themselves, colleague and neighbours to assist in preventing and solving crime in their areas , in addition to creating , improving the lot of each and everyone in their particular community

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YET  the salaried management of the NHW national organisation somehow misunderstands the importance of continuous stimulation, individual recognition, material assistance, face to face contact, ongoing moral stimulation & assisting the generation of ideas which can result from a genuine and purposeful vertical engagement with the “foot soldiers” 

It is easy to finance and create mundane websites, establish and equip a salaried HQ Office and management structure, however, personal contact and communication will most definitely be more effective and  appreciated. Sending out messages enquiring what the volunteers think about the website is pointless and wasteful, hasn’t anyone heard of website statistics !.. Websites and content statistics are constantly available, analysing the smallest detail of interactivity, and visitor interest and the number of page/article visits even to the smallest detail of which page they exit the site from. Yet it appears to me that the attitude and finesse used in the successful commercial is not embraced nor considered useful .

The Neighbourhood Alert system by VisaV is a fantastic example of the use of the internet and digital contact in vertical engagement. However,  personal individual engagement still an important element also.

 Here is an example of what I mean with the illustration of a personal engagement with NOTTSWATCH the Nottinghamshire NHW Association - some 12 months ago..  .. 

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Three years ago my wife and I became  IT Champions with a local concern – regretfully for several reasons after 6 months  this association came to an end. 

Following our experiences in re-establishing the village NHW, it quickly became evident that the majority of NHW volunteers were NOT computer literate – resulting in an ongoing communication problem. We therefore decided to begin coaching our volunteers – many in their 60.70/80’s in the use of library computers ( high successful with many buying their own laptops )

Mary -  "Going Solo"

As a result of this experience and honing our "computer training" down to the absolute basics via our "One to One" tutorial,s we developed our own “ABC” in Basic Computer instruction. This was just prior to the launch of the Governments Guru Marth Lane Fox’s “Get on Line” initiative.

Regretfully about this time Notts CC, as many other council authorities in the UK,  found it necessary to begin cutting the number of libraries in the County and reducing the hours of many others to meet financial requirements.

 After several meets with Notts CC Library staff  and our local County Councillor, our initiative to develop “Computer Training” in libraries did not progress any further. 

A  little time later we broached developing the subject with a National NHW representative – “nothing in this years budget to cover that” was the response

A couple of months after this, in our role as NHW Co-ordinators, we introduced our initiative to NOTTSWATCH-after dekivering a small presentation at one of the monthly meetings, immediately our ABC initiative became a live topic again.

The Chairman and members ( including the Police ) saw the immense potential in introducing, improved andr sharper community engagement with existing and new NHW volunteers ( the majority of NHW volunteers are 50 plus and not computer savvy).  OK it has taken some 9 months to reach the  position todate  ( with a launch in a months time), however it should be understood that NOTTSWATCH is also a volunteer organisation with NO full time salaried members and. the committee representatives from each Council district of the county have to travel considerable distances for meets each month and  they are not computer e mail gurus either.

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I am confident that now is the time to roll up our sleeves and really make an effort to beat this digital/computer divide "ONCE and FOR ALL"  for that is what it will be 

 "ONCE and for ALL time" - for following generations are already computer savvy thro their schooling and employment activities.

 In Nottinghamshire we need to -

Bring together all those organisations involved, in their own way, in introducing computer /digital use to the county’s uninitiated   - NottsWatch, NottsCC. Notts libraries, Age Concern, RCan, District Councils plus the Broad Band providers, Major Stores and Computer/Digital  Sales outlets and of course Media organisations etc.

 We should and need to interest and establish direct and meaningful relationships with the many community interest groups  - WI.s, Senior Citizens, Residential Homes etc, who  for all these and their members will  naturally benefit from an initiative such as this

The scope is tremendous, for  if only we can establish a contact and meaningful relationships with organisations across the county, there is little doubt that a genuine co-operation can be generated  thro-out the wide range of the county’s  Administrators  and by integrating existing resources and a purpose of intent , we can collectively and successfully develop the genuine

“Intent to resolve this problem  - ONCE and for ALL”  

   

I could go on all day with listing the benefits  to the Police, Social Services, the National Health services etc., etc., but most of all, it will benefit each and every individual and family who at present is left outside and devoid of the numerous benefits and social advantages available to them by being computer familiar and involved in the UK's digital revolution

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